“The AI era will require a new generation of infrastructure. We’re building it,” said Adam Selipsky, the former CEO of AWS and now new CEO of startup Helix Digital Infrastructure.
Former AWS CEO Adam Selipsky has been appointed the new CEO of Helix Digital Infrastructure, a startup aimed at delivering integrated infrastructure and power solutions for hyperscalers with over $10 billion of capital at launch, including backing from Nvidia.
“The AI era will require a new generation of infrastructure. We’re building it,” said Adam Selipsky in a LinkedIn post Thursday.
“Helix brings a new approach to infrastructure delivery, integrating data centers, power, and connectivity to help hyperscalers meet accelerating AI demand with greater speed, scale, and certainty,” he said.
New York City-based Helix was created by investment firm giant KKR.
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The startup looks to serve as a single coordination point for hyperscalers’ data centers, power generation and transmission, connectivity and related infrastructure.
Selipsky said large customers and users of digital infrastructure have an urgent need to reduce complexity and unlock new capacity.
Selipsky was critical in helping AWS increase sales to a $100 billion annual run rate and drove innovation, particularly around AI, in his three years as CEO from 2021 to 2024.
Nvidia Backing; Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Weighs In On Helix
Founded with investments from investors KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia and Vistra, Helix has more than $10 billion in total long-duration capital commitments.
Nvidia will serve as a partner to support the deployment of Nvidia DSX AI factory-aligned infrastructure with a view to maximizing tokens per watt, achieving lowest total cost of ownership and accelerating time to first token for investments pursued by Helix.
“AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout in modern history,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in a statement.
“With the Nvidia DSX platform and the Helix strategic partnership, we are bringing together a proven AI factory blueprint, world-class infrastructure expertise from KKR, and long-term capital to help AI cloud providers build the next generation of intelligence infrastructure,” Huang said.
Vistra, a leading integrated power generation and electricity company with operations across 18 states, is the preferred power provider for Helix investments.
Helix Targets AWS, Google And Microsoft
The term hyperscalers refers to Selipsky’s former employer, AWS, as well as its rivals Google and Microsoft.
“In my 15 years helping build a $100 billion revenue business and scale cloud infrastructure with AWS, I saw firsthand what happens when demand for compute outpaces the physical infrastructure behind it,” said Selipsky.
Helix is supported by KKR’s infrastructure platform, which includes over $100 billion in infrastructure assets under management and more than $70 billion invested across digital and power assets.
The company said it will seek to invest in and manage assets that are critical for enabling AI, including hyperscale data center development and operations, baseload and flexible power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, and fiber and connectivity infrastructure, among other assets, according to the company.
“Data centers, power, and connectivity have all too often been built on separate tracks. In the unprecedented infrastructure build-out of the AI era, that fragmentation has become an industry-wide bottleneck. This is slowing down the benefits of AI for enterprises, startups, governments, non-profits, and citizens worldwide,” Selipsky said.
One executive from an AWS partner said he isn’t surprised Selipsky landed the leadership job at an AI infrastructure firm.
“Adam knows AI and infrastructure just about better than anyone. He also has relationships with large customers and AWS,” said the executive, who declined to be identified due to just learning about the news. “This just makes sense that he would lead a company, backed by billions of dollars, to help cloud and big companies with AI.”
The executive said that with backing from Nvidia, Helix could become a major player in the AI era over the next few years.
“I’m sure it’s going to take [Helix] a bit to get off the ground, but it could get [customers] faster than typical startups because (of) who’s running it,” he said. “I don’t see anything from a channel angle yet. … Any time someone with as much weight as Adam becomes the head of a company, people take notice.”
Adam Selipsky’s AWS Career
Selipsky was one of the first vice presidents AWS hired in 2005.
He spent 11 years leading AWS sales, marketing and support before leaving to become CEO of business intelligence software company Tableau. He left Tableau in 2021 to rejoin AWS as CEO after former CEO Andy Jassy was promoted to CEO of parent company Amazon.
Selipsky was critical in helping drive AWS’s AI strategy and increased sales to a $100 billion annual run rate.
After leaving AWS in 2024, Selipsky joined KKR as its leading technology advisor in September 2025.
